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Newcomers DBPro Corner / Can you copygaurd a game?/ also a question about patching games

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Meltabomb
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Joined: 1st Mar 2005
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 01:19
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Hello, I am going to be buying a few things from TGC soon and dark basic pro is one of them, and one of the thoughts ive had about DBP was, is there anyway to put some kind of protection in your program so other people cannot just share what they bought with everyone else? I've heard of people doing this on things like limewire. Doesnt DBP put everything into 1 file? Ive thought of "cd keys", but then you got people making keygens, or just sharing there keys, the only thing ive thought of was like the program "steam" where you have user accounts and 1 key for each account, and a server that checks for valid keys, but thats going a little overboard. I dont even know if thats possible.

The other question ive had is, if you make a game or program, and then have some updates for it, is it possible to patch the game?
Because I dont think re-downloading the entire thing for a simple fix would work out to good.

Thanks for you time
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Gen
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Joined: 6th Jul 2004
Location: Oklahoma, USA
Posted: 14th Jun 2006 10:14
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For the second question, yes you can patch a game you make.

Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2, Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, 768 MB PC3200 Ram, ATI Radeon X700 Pro 256 MB
Dark Basic Professional 6.1 -- Dark IDE nearly complete!
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Twu Kai
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 11:05
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Well, for the first question, I think you can. You'll need the "Enhancements Expansion Pack", though (It was mentioned in this month's newsletter). What you'd do is, when the player first plays the game, you would find out the IP address of that computer (Using the Enhancements Expansion Pack), and save that as a string. Then you'd detect if the computer IP is the same as the IP you saved.

Hope that helps.

We were all new people once.
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Meltabomb
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 18:23
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@-Gen, thanks, thats good to know, and Mojo10, that helps alot, then all I would need is some code to stop the program from running if the ip doesnt match (and maybe some text that says the swat team is on the way as you read this lol)
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Kenjar
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Posted: 15th Jun 2006 01:33
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Bare in mind that the vast majority of online users have dynamic IP addresses from their ISP's. Meaning that no one's IP address remains the same after logging off and on again. However using the combination of an IP address and cd-key, providing it's an online game, would prevent more then one IP address from using a copy of your program with a specific CD-Key. However if you are planning to make an offline game, it's not a good idea to make people have to be online to use the software. The simple fact is that piracy is pretty much unstoppable, large companies spend fortunes on technology, and it's always beaten. The best you can do is just sell your game, and accept piracy as a way of life these days.

Your signature has been erased by a mod because it's larger than 600x120...
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Meltabomb
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Posted: 15th Jun 2006 01:47
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No offense man, but thats a really bad way of going about things, I guess the best way to do it would be to try and recreate what valve did, and make a program like steam. I wonder how TGC did it with there software.
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Mickm
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Joined: 22nd Apr 2006
Location: Kingston, ON
Posted: 15th Jun 2006 02:10
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I believe TGC did it semi like steam.

Each account is an email address, each email address has X# of keys associated with the account. When a program is activated the amount of keys is decreased until it reaches 0.

To do this you could make a front end to an RAR or ZIP with a password, (front end VB/C/ETC). When the user runs the front end it will ask them for their useraccount (or email) and the registration key. Once activated it sends the information to the server, and the server sends a key back based on something (like hard drive serial, computer name, etc).

Once this is done the front end would unpack the program and create a key file based on something on their pc (like hard drive serial). If the key file doesnt match then it's an illegal version.

Punk Buster did it this way with the serial number, and a ton of applications do it as well.

I don't know if it gives you any more ideas but good luck

http://www.gamestack.org
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code master
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Posted: 15th Jun 2006 03:03
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I'm using a Front end programmed in VB, that asks for a reg key. This key is generated on-the-fly, based on system time, name, and stuff like that. They email me a report that contains that info, then I email them a generated key. When they enter the correct key, the install is launched.

You could make your DBP program check for some obscure file in the Program Files directory, that way nobody could get off with just copying the exe.



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Twu Kai
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Posted: 15th Jun 2006 17:46
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Quote: "Bare in mind that the vast majority of online users have dynamic IP addresses from their ISP's. Meaning that no one's IP address remains the same after logging off and on again."


Oh well, now I know!

Then you could use the profile name, or the computer name, instead of the IP I guess.

We were all new people once.
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